Resisting the Lies about the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare)

When I was living in democrat controlled NY State I was working two part-time jobs with no benefits. As a NY State resident earning less than $22,000 annually, I was entitled to the expanded Medicaid benefit of the ACA for $20 a month. When I moved to republican controlled Florida, even though I was initially unemployed, I was not entitled to any health care coverage other than what I could buy on the marketplace at a cost of about $400 a month (an amount still cheaper than I could have gotten health insurance for without the ACA).

Why the disparity? During its whole life, the ACA has been besieged by republican led attempts to convince people that it was flawed and the expense a cumbersome albatross for most people. To aid in this deception, republican governors and legislatures like in Florida, refused to accept the ACA’s provision of federally funded expanded Medicaid for its states poorest residents. In doing this harm to its own residents, state republicans were hoping to convince people that ‘Obamacare’ was a bad deal that was too expensive.

On the national level, the republican congress voted to repeal the ACA in its entirety six times and have held more than 50 votes to defund or delay the ACA in part or entirely, even taking its case to the U.S. Supreme Court. This defunding of the ACA by the republicans is the direct link to the ACA’s issues today.

Had the republicans, in good faith, and in the best interest of the populous, supported the ACA, instead of attacking it for political and party reasons, it would be a shining example of bringing affordable healthcare to the millions of America’s uninsured and neediest residents. This latest effort at ‘repeal and replace’ or just ‘repeal’ is a continuation of the same sad attempts to hurt the American people for purely political gain.